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Ryan Tannehill and a New Offense in Miami

The big news this week was the naming of Ryan Tannehill as the starter for the Dolphins, but Friday night’s game against the Falcons will give Miami fans a better idea of what to expect from the Dolphins this season. Atlanta will be the first team game-planned for in the Joe Philbin era and should be a truer indication of how Mike Sherman will use play selection to set-up the running game or the passing game.

Until this point, the preseason has been less about preparing for regular season games and more about player evaluation. Only rushing 27 times in two games, has kept the running game under wraps, while the QBs and WRs battled for starting and back-up roles. This week should unveil a different offense in Miami, the Dolphins will obviously deploy the rushing attack much more, but how it will be used is what defenses on Miami’s 2012 schedule will be looking to catalog on film.

All the evidence points to the passing game being used to set-up the run, which is like going back to the future with Ryan Tannehill taking the place of Dan Marino. Not since Marino have the Dolphins employed throwing the football as a primary means of attack, believing this transition can take place overnight is probably shortsighted. There are bound to be growing pains as Joe Philbin reverses the course Miami has followed since Marino retired.

The old adage that the running game sets up the pass is passé, as confirmation can be found in these rushing charts of some of the more prolific NFL offensive teams, with the Dolphins included for reference.

2011 GREEN BAY RUSHING STATS

2011 NEW ORLEANS RUSHING STATS

Att

Yds

TD

Y/A

Att

Yds

TD

Y/A

395

1558

12

3.9

431

2127

16

4.9

LEAGUE RANK

LEAGUE RANK

26

27

16

26

20

6

7

4

2011 NEW ENGLAND RUSHING STATS

2011 DETROIT RUSHING STATS

Att

Yds

TD

Y/A

Att

Yds

TD

Y/A

438

1764

18

4

356

1523

9

4.3

LEAGUE RANK

LEAGUE RANK

17

20

3

24

31

29

23

13

2011 NYG RUSHING STATS

2011 MIAMI RUSHING STATS

Att

Yds

TD

Y/A

Att

Yds

TD

Y/A

411

1427

17

3.5

469

1987

11

4.2

LEAGUE RANK

LEAGUE RANK

22

32

6

32

6

11

19

15

The stat line most startling is the league ranking in number of attempts for most of these teams. There seems to be an almost blatant disregard for the old school thought of run first offense. There are numerous reasons for this transformation, but what’s relevant to Dolphin fans is that Joe Philbin and his coaching staff buys into this change of the guard and that Miami will be moving in this direction.

The change was already evident in the Dolphins not caring about trying to balance the offense in the first two preseason games. But these numbers are very deceiving in the west coast offense. The traditional rushing offense is replaced by a controlled passing game that uses short passing in place of a straight ahead rushing attack. What’s missing from these stats is the amount of throws to the backs and TEs that have taken the place of running plays.

The NFL purist in the stats line has not yet made the progression from the type of stats shown above to a chart more representative of what is happening in the modern game. Miami will now have stats similar to what is shown, but the game itself has not changed that much. The forced running game is replaced by a short passing game, with “dump-offs” no longer called “check-downs” because they are planned plays. Instead of going through a receiver tree progression and then settling on an outlet receiver, Tannehill will look to the check-off first on a three step drop.

This is a complete reversal from the traditional progression then check-down. The QB looks short first and then uses his feet when the short pass is covered and goes to the next longer and so on. This makes more sense than waiting in the pocket for “a play to develop” because it looks to what could be open by sequencing the depth of the pattern tree.

This is why all the talk about Miami needing a Brandon Marshall type of receiver is way off base. Each receiver has a depth in the progression and it is up to the QB to see the weak spot in the defense and to direct the passing game without a primary receiver. This is the change Miami fans should begin to see this week against Atlanta. Thirteen years after Dan Marino retired, the Dolphins are back to being a passing team.

Beware Dolphin fans… Three yards and a cloud of dust has left the building!